The Mets made a trade on deadline day but not the blockbuster that some might have hoped for a few days ago. With Shohei Ohtani likely not being dealt and Juan Soto going to the Padres, the Mets traded for Darin Ruf, sending J.D. Davis, Thomas Szapucki , Nick Zwack and Carson Seymour to the Giants to get Ruf.
In Ruf, the Mets get a righty-hitting DH to pair with the recently-acquired Daniel Vogelbach. Ruf posted a .252/.364/.523 line against LHP this year in 132 PA and lifetime has a .929 OPS in 655 PA versus lefties. He gives the Mets an extremely effective hitter to partner with Voelbach. While the Ruf/Vogelbach duo isn’t nearly the sexy upgrade that the Padres got in Soto, the Mets end up with the following production from the DH slot in their newly-formed platoon:
.264/.371/.528 in 356 PA.
That’s an .899 OPS which is even slightly better than the .894 OPS that Soto has this year. Of course, Soto is significantly more likely to give that type of production going forward. The Mets will be happy if Vogelbach/Ruf will give that the rest of the calendar year.
To get Ruf, the Mets parted with Davis and three minor leaguers. Anyone who thought that Szapucki had any trade value should grab a towel and dry off from the bucket of ice water just thrown on them. Zwack and Seymour are 23-year-olds pitching well in A-ball, putting them years behind where they should be at that age to be legitimate prospects. In other words, lottery tickets or org filler.
It’s not the Willson Contreras upgrade we might have been hoping for but Billy Eppler has kept true to his promise not to touch the team’s top prospects while still creating an exciting DH platoon, one miles better than the Davis/Dominic Smith tandem the club at times tried to use.
I like the trade, very strategic. I see they picked up Mychal Givens. Did they trade Smith for him ?
The only negative mark was not getting a solid lefty like Chafin, or outbidding the Phillies for Robertson who handles Lefties well. It’ll be interesting to see who gets brought in to face Freeman, Soto, etc…late in the playoffs. That being said Eppler has built a solid team with strength in all facets of the game. I like our chances.
The goal was to upgrade the DH position by OPS, by power translated by home runs to protect Alonzo at the 5th spot in the order. Escobar, who was supposed to do that failed. Smith and Davis were one-dimensional players and their one dimension was lacking. Vogelbach and Ruf check all the boxes. Both of them are controlled until 2025 and both of them are inexpensive so that the Mets can spend their money on other players and not increase their luxury tax. Another bonus is that they didn’t have to ravage their minor leagues. They didn’t trade two months of control to six years of control.
At the trade deadline, the Mets improved their offense. They are now going to have three platoons; DH, 3B and LH. They will also have quality bats on the bench to pinch hit. Eppler did an excellent job at the deadline for the offense..
If you squint hard enough you can justify the offensive additions. However, we did not do enough to fortify the bullpen. Maybe, hopefully, Megill and May can be the saviors? If I was GM I’d have gone all in on Josh Hader to give us a killer pen. That’s how championships are won. While I would never trade Alvarez, Baty or Allen, Mauricio and Vientos are good trade chips that could have been used in such a trade. If money was too big a concern with Hader or Iglesias, we could have at least gotten Robertson. Even trying to ignore his awful Mets’ debut last night, Givens is not the lockdown 8th inning guy we needed. This concerns me as an achilles heel.
Reliever A – 40.1 IP, 2.23 ERA, 1.041 WHIP
Reliever B – 35.0 IP, 4.11 ERA, 1.086 WHIP
Reliever C – 35.2 IP, 4.04 ERA, 1.065 WHIP
Reliever D – 40.2 IP, 2.21 ERA, 0.934 WHIP
A and D are pretty similar while B and C are a step below. And you know what – we already have D in our bullpen.
A – David Robertson
B – Josh Hader
C – Raisel Iglesias
D – Adam Ottavino
So, why isn’t Ottavino considered a “lockdown 8th inning guy?” Because the Mets have had to use him earlier than that. But now with May coming back and Givens around, Showalter should be able to use Ottavino much more often in the 8th, if he chooses.